Ill Met by Moonlight
Background "There are stories in Falkreath of a strange vagrant who savagely killed a little girl." Walkthrough You start this quest by asking Mathies Caerellia "Who died?", and then speaking to Sinding, a prisoner in the Falkreath Barracks. Alternatively, you may speak directly to Sinding to start the quest. He will tell you of a rare animal that needs to be killed to appease to Hircine, the Prince of the Hunt. Sinding gives you the Cursed Ring of Hircine that will make you randomly transform into a werewolf. After that, he escapes. After you kill the animal, its spirit will appear to you, and through it, Hircine will speak. He'll command you to go to the place where Sinding has fled and instruct you to kill him, to gain favor with Hircine. Once you've arrived at Bloated Man's Grotto, you'll meet some hunters, horribly outmatched by the werewolf Sinding. You can choose to either try to kill Sinding, or to ally with him and kill all the hunters. The reward you receive varies depending on this choice: #If you kill Sinding and take his skin, Hircine appears to reward you with the Savior's Hide, a leather-based light armor which gives magic and poison resist. #If you kill the hunters, Hircine will appear once you leave the grotto and commend you for turning the hunt "inside out" - giving you his blessing and transforming the ring into the Ring of Hircine. This ring gives the user unlimited werewolf transformations. (Note: You must already have the power to transform into a werewolf in order for this ring to take effect). #You may also obtain both items by killing all hunters then removing Sinding's skin.(Note: It is easier to trick him into believing you are on his side then slaughtering him in the end. Both items count toward the achievement: Planes Walker). Both choices remove the Cursed Ring of Hircine from your inventory. A video walkthough is available here Conclusion "I met Sinding, a werewolf that the Daedric Lord Hircine had punished by preventing his transformations. I helped kill him as a service to Hircine, and have been rewarded with Savior's Hide." "I met Sinding , a werewolf who the Daedric Lord Hircine had punished by preventing his transformations. I defended him against the hunters that Hircine sent to end his life, and earned his friendship." Notes Four chests can be found in this area, even after it is changed during the quest: *After entering into the main part of the cavern, you will see the first of a few waterfalls to your immediate right. A chest is hidden behind a dead, hollowed out trunk on ledge before this initial waterfall. *A locked chest is hidden at the bottom of the small water pool under the initial waterfall. *An unlocked chest can be found in the built up area, in front of the Talos Shrine and statue. *A master locked chest is hidden near the dead deer on a ledge behind boulders. Bugs This quest was fixed in the 3.01 patch so you can not get both ring and hide(tested on ps3). The bug is still there, but you have to kill the hunters first, walk outside and recieve the ring from Hircine, THEN walk back inside, slay Sinding, take his "skin" and THEN Hircine will again appear, and give you the other deadric item. KrisEike (talk) 15.30, December 29, 2011 (UTC) Near the end of the grotto when siding with Sinding, all the NPCs in the area may become permenantly invisible. It is possible for the Great White Elk to relocate to a position on the map beyond the world limits, making it impossible to finish this quest. This occured before I even saw the Elk. If the Great White Elk is trapped in the mountain, try using "Raise Zombie" or a similar spell or scroll to bring him back to life. Then you can kill him again, and the Aspect of Hircine will follow the corpse. This quest tends to become broken If you do not kill the Great White Elk upon your first encounter. It will run away and can end up on a mountain top that is unreachable. Meet up with a few other fellow hunters walking on a path as the elks are found commonly around and use their help to take down the elk. It is possible to obtain both artifacts (confirmed PS3 2.01 and Xbox 360 3.01, confirmed on PC by patch 1.1.21.0) by helping Sinding kill all the hunters, and once you finish that, talk to Sinding, leave the cave causing Hircine to show and reward you the ring, then go back into the cave kill and skin Sinding which in turn causes Hircine to show up and reward you the hide. Or if you kill all the hunters then without talking to Sinding kill him, Hircine will appear and give you Savior's Hide then go outside and talk to Hircine's Elk Spirit and he will uncurse the ring. Later in the game Sinding can be found wandering the countryside, despite NPC's not reacting to him, he will respond with "Never thought I'd see you again." if you get closer. (There is a possibility thereafter if the glitch is done correctly that if one tries to cast spells used a conjuration spell that you will be stuck in hostile stance. You can correct this by going back to a previous save. Preferrably the most recent autosave, to maintain the ring and Savior's Hide.) After wearing the Cursed ring, and turning into a werewolf manually, you might not be able to turn back into your old self. Sinding can get stuck in the pool of water in his cell, never making it up the stairs to be able to speak with you, making the quest impossible to start or continue. This can be corrected by using the third level (2nd works too) of unrelenting force on him then exiting and returning to the jail. Sinding may also turn hostile if you attempt to heal him with the Healing Hands restoration spell. It is possible to have two Sindings after completing the quest by aiding him. If the hunters are defeated, the ally Sinding may simply freeze in place, only uttering "Never thought I'd see you again", you will then see a second Sinding camped in werewolf form before the exit, with this glitch it is possible to obtain both the ring and the armor without technically killing Sinding completly. If you decide to tell Sinding you will kill him, and end up killing (accidently or purposely) the hunters, the quest may glitch and Sinding will follow you as if you were hunting the hunters. The quest will not progress and Sinding will be invulnerable to damage. The only way to fix this is to reload a previous save. It is possible, that after killing Great White Elk, Sinding will remain in the cell, even though everyone says that he escaped. Sometimes the ring will not take effect after Hircine removes the curse. Should this happen reload the game and go get the ring again. It is possible to keep the Cursed Ring of Hircine while still getting one or both of the final quest rewards. After defeating the hunters, although you cannot remove the Cursed Ring you can drop or store it. Store it in one of the chests inside and when you leave Hircine will still give you the uncursed ring even though you do not have it in your inventory. Go back inside and retrieve the cursed ring then kill Sinding if you wish to get the Savior's Hide. Note: Do not store the Cursed Ring on a dead body as these will disappear after speaking with Hircine. When using fast travel, there can occur a transformation which the player can not recover from. To avoid this, travel to the grotto manually. Getting both items for this quest(Savior's Hide/Ring of Hircine) does not always count as 2 for the Oblivion Walker Achievment, it may only count as 1. Confirmed both ways on 360, unknown as to why it is different for some. Patch 3 may have fixed an issue with both only counting as 1. Trivia *"Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania," is a line, said by Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, written by William Shakespeare. Gallery Hircine.png|Ring of Hircine as it appears in game External Links Video of the insides of the Bloated Man's Grottoand obtaining Savior's Hide by skinning Sinding. Click here for a YouTube tutorial on how to complete this quest. Category:Skyrim: Quests Category:Skyrim: Daedric Quests Category:Quests